Deadlift alternative?

[bla55]

Well, ok, I realize deadlift will not have any good enough alternative. Yes.

Now here's my problem. I've always had it as a part of my trainning, but lately I've had some major backpains in the day after the deadlift. I've always had perfect form and everything, take care, all the shbang. Even asked for a trainner to take a look at my execution. No dice.

I had an MRI and X-Rays taken, nothing is wrong, they just told me to switch exercises... It's just stressing my lower back too much.

Ok, the question is, what can I replace this with? I realize is one of the more important exercises to release some testosterone in me. What if there's nothing wrong and it's just been hurting me, what could I maybe plug in here that could do the same?

[Rah22491]

try weighted hyperextensions those are a good lower back exercise

[bla55]

Yeah, I figured those would be an option, was wondering if there are any complex exercises to get some more muscles involved.

Any thoughts or those are pretty much my only choice?

[RedwolfWV]

Would rack deads be an option? Same movement, but your only pulling from just below the knees up to lockout.

[Steveoph]

Good morning would also target the lower back; also look into strengthening your plank.

[bla55]

I was unaware of good mornings. They indeed look like a winner! Will give it a try tomorrow at the gym.

Thanks a lot.

[Steveoph]

I was unaware of good mornings. They indeed look like a winner! Will give it a try tomorrow at the gym.

Thanks a lot.

Glad I could help; hopefully your back likes these better

[Aggravated]

Good morning would also target the lower back; also look into strengthening your plank.

These and weighted hyper extensions should work great. Though without deadlifts, you aren't going to activate as many muscle fibers. These two should be plenty enough for your lower back though. Good luck friend!

[John Smeton]

agreed. good advice fellas. Louie Simmons recommends weighted hypers all the time due to he broke he back a few times and it really helped him recover from them.

Maybe try box squatting if you don't this strengthen the lower back nicely as well.

[repmks]

can you describe the pain?

[mikinTx]

I had to switch to doing deads with a trap bar, don't get the same extension but seems to recruit nearly as many muscles. Don't know if it's a complete replacement for bb deads but pretty much elminated the lower back pain.

[hardknock]

The best exercise which I have used for alternatives was seated good mornings...I once used heavy seated GM and rack deads to increase my olympic dead lifts.

If you want to just condition your back, stick to sets of 10, if you're looking for more strength then lower the reps to 5-6.
Its hard going extremely heavy though due to your stomach area and the weight on your shoulder blades and neck.

Check you tube for seated GM...good exercise if done correctly...

[John Smeton]

The best exercise which I have used for alternatives was seated good mornings...I once used heavy seated GM and rack deads to increase my olympic dead lifts.

If you want to just condition your back, stick to sets of 10, if you're looking for more strength then lower the reps to 5-6.
Its hard going extremely heavy though due to your stomach area and the weight on your shoulder blades and neck.

Check you tube for seated GM...good exercise if done correctly...

yeah there nice. don't hit the hams as hard as standing. more of a lower back exercise then the standing , which hits me hams hard. I pulled my hamstring doing standing ones.

also incline glute ham raises for strengthen lower back, , using it as a hamstrings exercise, of course regular hypers are better as far as back strength..

[bla55]

can you describe the pain?

Yeah, at the time of the excercise it would be a sharp pain shooting through my lower back, as of extreme tightness and I wouldn't be able to complete the exercise even with very small weight. I gave it a 2 weeks rest but it was still there when I tried back. And then on the following day it'd be still very tight and I wouldn't be able to move normally.

MRI showed nothing, so idk, could be a muscular thing but I decided to switch up to something less painful.

Did the good mornings and they worked pretty well, I started off with low weights since I'm not used to the exercise, but so far no real pain (not much of a weight either though ) and the extensions I've just been doing on a medicine ball and with low weights trying to keep it under a low stress level. But at least I'm working it! Will check out the seated GM as well and see how those work and if I can up the weight a little more.

[pmiller383]

If you can handle having weight on your back or doing good mornings, chances are you have some soft tissue problems or need an adjustment. You may want to look for an ART massage therapist around your area to see if they can help you out. Other than that I would recommend foam rolling and reverse hypers swings if you have access to either of them. Also have you tried doing a sumo deadlift where you more or less squat the weight up? Finally do you have any video of you pulling, it may just be a technical problem with the lift.

[bla55]

Yeah, at first I thought it was a technical problem with me and the lift, but I asked one of the professionals at my gym (aka a personal trainner / kinesiology graduate) to check out if I was doing it properly. In fact, I asked 2 different guys in different times, and them both said it looked perfect and I shouldn't be feeling any discomfort from that. And this is a quite recent thing, I've done this same way for years and never felt a thing, so I guessed I pulled something or did a little damage and now I just feel weird whenever I do this movement, so I wanted to switch it up a little and give it some time before trying to go at it again.

I'm thinking of stopping by an osteopath and seeing what he has to say about it, maybe he could help me out a little.

I unfortunally don't have a camera, and my cel phone will not take videos, so I'll have to see if I can borrow from someone in order to record my movement.

I'll look into the foam rolling and reverse hyper, but I'd have to come up with something for the reverse as we don't have any of those in my gym.

[LilPsychotic]

Well, ok, I realize deadlift will not have any good enough alternative. Yes.

Now here's my problem. I've always had it as a part of my trainning, but lately I've had some major backpains in the day after the deadlift. I've always had perfect form and everything, take care, all the shbang. Even asked for a trainner to take a look at my execution. No dice.

I had an MRI and X-Rays taken, nothing is wrong, they just told me to switch exercises... It's just stressing my lower back too much.

Ok, the question is, what can I replace this with? I realize is one of the more important exercises to release some testosterone in me. What if there's nothing wrong and it's just been hurting me, what could I maybe plug in here that could do the same?

Try rack deads, instead of pulling them off of the floor. I used to have this same problem (from going too heavy), so when I started lifting with a pro he turned me on to rack deads. This is when you lower the cross bars in the squat rack to roughly an two inches beneath the kneecap (you will have to experiment with what height is right for you). Once you have established a proper height for the cross bars, you then deadlift. Keep your legs stiff, but not locked, and slowly come up as far as you can. This movement isolates the lower back, and you can work up to much heavier weight compared to a standard deadlift (I weigh 175, and can pull 405 for 10, 315 for 25). I than went back to doing traditional deads occasionally on leg day. I only do about half the weight, with a focus on the hamstrings. Since performing rack deads, my back, and overall strength has dramatically improved. I no longer get those annoying backaches when doing traditional deads, or squats. Hope you give it a shot. Start out light/high rep, and work your way up.

[ShakesAllDay]

Try using heavy DB's instead of a BB... you don't have to bend as far over. Since you don't have the barbell in front of your legs determing your ROM, you can pretty much adjust it to suit your needs. I do this as a warmup... great to do wide stance or close.

[fightbackhxc]

what about cable dead lifts?

[ironlunch]

Would rack deads be an option? Same movement, but your only pulling from just below the knees up to lockout.

I was going to suggest that too. Rack pulls still work all the muscles but not over the entire range of motion deads do, since you are pulling from knee level, not floor level. I have poor flexibility in my hammys and cant do deads from the floor b/c my back rounds out, so I have been doing rack pulls instead and I still get a great workout from them.